1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink bottle apparatus to which an ink bottle is inserted and mounted, and an ink bottle mounted to the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, in a stencil printing machine that is one of related art printing machine, a stencil paper of stencil printing plate is wound around a drum based on image information, a print paper is moved while bringing the paper into contact with the rotating drum under pressure, and an ink image is directly transferred to the print paper, or a transfer body is rotated and moved while bringing the transfer body into contact with the rotating drum under pressure, the ink image is once transferred to the transfer body, the print paper is moved while bringing the print paper into contact with the rotating transfer body under pressure, and the ink image is transferred to the print paper. In such a stencil printing machine, an ink bottle mounting apparatus that is an ink supply source for supplying ink from an inner surface of the drum is provided.
FIG. 1 shows one example of this related ink bottle mounting apparatus 100. As shown in FIG. 1, the bottle mounting apparatus body 101 is provided with a bottle insertion chamber 103 into which an ink bottle 102 is inserted. An ink suction port (not shown) is disposed in a deepest position of the bottle insertion chamber 103. The bottle insertion chamber 103 is provided at its inlet side with a bottle lock member 104. The bottle lock member 104 can rotate between a bottle lock position that abuts against an insertion rear end surface 102a of the ink bottle 102 located at a mounting position and a lock releasing position that permits insertion and pulling out of the ink bottle 102. The bottle lock member 104 is biased toward the bottle lock position by a spring 105.
On the other hand, the ink bottle 102 is made of synthetic resin into substantially cylindrical shape. An ink discharge port 106 projects from an insertion leading end surface of the ink bottle 102. The ink bottle 102 is locked by the bottle lock member 104 in a mounting position of the bottle insertion chamber 103, so that connection between the ink discharge port 106 of the ink bottle 102 and the ink suction port (not shown) on the side of the bottle mounting apparatus body 101 is not easily separated from each other.
A replacing operation of the ink bottle 102 having the above-described structure will be explained. As shown in FIG. 2, an operator moves the bottle lock member 104 to the lock releasing position by one hand, and pulls out the ink bottle 102 in the bottle insertion chamber 103 from the chamber 103 with the other hand. As shown in FIG. 3, if the ink bottle 102 has been pulled out completely, the operator moves the bottle lock member 104 to the lock releasing position with one hand, and holds a new ink bottle 102 with the other hand. In a state in which the insertion leading end surface of the ink bottle 102 is aligned to a predetermined rotation position, the ink bottle 102 is aligned to the inlet position of the bottle insertion chamber 103. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the ink bottle 102 is inserted to the mounting position of the bottle insertion chamber 103, and the one hand is released from the bottle lock member 104. Then, the bottle lock member 104 is rotated into the bottle lock position by a spring force of the spring 105, the insertion rear end surface of the ink bottle 102 is pushed to lock the ink bottle 102, and the replacing operation is completed.
In related ink bottle mounting apparatus 100, however, when the ink bottle 102 is replaced, the bottle lock member 104 must be operated with one hand, and both the inserting operation and pulling out operation of the ink bottle 102 must be done with the other hand. Thus, the operator must replace the ink bottle 102 using both hands, and there is a problem that the replacing operation is troublesome.
Further, the entire length of the ink bottle 102 is varied in some cases due to swelling caused by temperature variation of the ink. If the entire length of the ink bottle 102 is varied, a position of the insertion rear end surface of the ink bottle 102 in the mounting position is varied. As a result of such variation, there are problems that a locking force of the ink bottle 102 by the bottle lock member 104 is lowered or the locking force is excessively increased.